


West End Boys

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Mob, Consensual Infidelity, Implied Sexual Content, Infidelity, Jealousy, M/M, Power Imbalance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 18:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1176650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Out of all of Richard's West End boys, he loves Bruce the most.</p><p>But Jason, the newest member of the Grayson Gang, certainly has some potential.</p>
            </blockquote>





	West End Boys

**Author's Note:**

  * For [st00pz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/st00pz/gifts).



> Birthday fic the second for st00pz! This came about as a result of two things:[ this piece ](http://tmblr.co/Z52TWy16c_Fc6)that st00pz drew for that 30 Day AU challege and my constant desire to write 20s AUs for everything under the sun. Again, I really hope you like this hun! (Even if it is unbelievably safe for work haha) 

The house that Richard keeps on the west end of Gotham city smells of disuse.

Despite the steady foot traffic of Richard’s boys using the house top move drugs, booze and guns from their suppliers out to various parts of the city, the house still smells as though it hasn’t been opened up since his parents’ deaths ten years before.

Richard lets Bruce go first, allowing his personal guard to go ahead of him as he waits on the steps that lead up to the old townhouse with one hand resting on the rusty railing that leads up the stairs.

Despite Bruce's bigger body disappearing into the murky darkness of the old house, Richard is far from alone. The rest of the Grayson gang scurries around him, taking in bags and boxes of contraband back and forth from the cars idling at the curb. One of the newest boys in his gang stands close by, standing close to Richard with his body angled so that any average Joe with a gun off the street would have to go through him to get to Richard.

"I can take care of myself, Jason," Richard says with a faint smile on his face. He has a gun of his own in his pocket, a pistol handpicked by Bruce himself when he turned twenty-one, and an eye on the sleepy neighborhood around them. "I don't need a human shield."

Jason narrows his eyes at Richard. "You wouldn't tell Bruce that you could take care of yourself," he mutters, cutting his eyes at his boss in a way that belies his age.

"You're right," Richard says, confirming Jason's muttered accusation. "He'd box my ears if I ever tried, but you're not Bruce. I don't need or want you putting yourself in danger for me." Richard reaches out and pats Jason's shoulder. "You're too green, kid. I'm not going to let you take a bullet for me when you can't even shoot a gun straight."

Jason bristles, standing up straight and glaring into Richard's eyes.

"But Bruce --"

"'But Bruce' nothing," Richard says, with the first hint of annoyance entering his voice. "You have a long way to go before you can be on his level, Jason, but I don't want another Bruce. I want you alive in twenty years guarding me  _with_  Bruce." Richard squeezes Jason's shoulder in a tight grip. "So for now, that means you need to show that you can follow directions from both of us. Not just Bruce."

Jason jerks away from Richard's hand. "So if you tell me to jump --"

"Then you do it without trying to think about what Bruce would do in your place," Richard says, choosing not to comment on the disrespect inherent in Jason pulling away from him like that. "You're in training, Jason. Bruce and I picked you because we heard good things about you. Don't prove us wrong."

Before Jason can come back at Richard with another ill-advised reply, Bruce clears his throat from somewhere behind them and both he and Richard flinch from the surprise.

"You'll have the room off to the master suite," Bruce says to Jason once he comes closer to them. "I already told Chavers and Weisz to take your things upstairs. You'll need to be close to Richard if you're going to help guard him."

Jason blinks up at Bruce. "But -- but where will  _you_  sleep?"

The sound of Richard's throaty laughter raises goose pimples over Jason's arms and he feels himself flush for that. Richard's thin fingers card through his hair and he presents Jason with a smile that looks like a predator's leer.

"Don't tell me you've missed it, Jason," Richard says, still smirking at Jason's bewilderment. "I always share a suite with Bruce. I've done so since I turned sixteen. It's just more... practical."

There's more to it that what Richard says out loud, something suggested by the way that Bruce presses close to Richard's back and by the way that Richard's gaze always lingers on Bruce's broad shoulders when he thinks no one else is looking.

Jason may not have finished his schooling, but some things a poor kid from the streets of Gotham just  _knows_  and the nature of the relationship between his boss and the older man's guard is one of them.

Ducking his head, Jason tries to will away the embarrassed flush on his cheeks. "O-oh," he stammers. "I didn't know that."

Something in Richard's gaze sharpens and he steps forward into Jason's space. "Do you have a problem with that, Jason?"

"N-no," Jason blurts out, eyes widening as Richard eyes him warily. "N-not at all, boss. I was just... surprised. That's all."

Richard nods his head, looking pleased with himself for an instant before he turns back to Bruce. "See, Bruce? I told you he was a good kid."

*

Despite the fact that their relationship is an open secret in the gang, Bruce still doesn’t make his way to the master suite in the West End house until after most of Richard's men have gone back to their own homes.

When the house is empty and silent aside from the faint sound of the house settling them around them, Bruce creeps back to the master suite with his shirt already half unbuttoned and his jacket tossed somewhere in the spacious house.

When Bruce opens the bedroom door, Richard is awake to greet him. Sitting up in bed with his hair spilling loose around his bare shoulders, Richard looks like

"You certainly took your time," Richard says with the kind of smile on his face that never fails to make Bruce pant after him. "Did you  _want_  me to fall asleep before you got here?" Richard tilts his head back against the headboard and then grins at his lover. "Or were you hoping that I'd get desperate enough to give the new boy a try?"

Bruce's mouth thins out with a frown and then pauses mere feet away from the big bed and the tempting picture that his lover makes while half-sprawled across it.

"He's only a kid," Bruce says with a heavy frown on his face. His hands go to the buttons of his shirt, sliding over the black buttons as though unsure if he wants to get undressed or if he wants to put his clothes back on. "If you're going to replace me, at least replace me with someone that's old enough to shave in the mornings."

Richard rolls his eyes and makes sure that Bruce sees the exasperation on his face.

"It was a joke, Bruce," he mutters. "Jason's a baby. He's cute, but he's barely eighteen. I doubt he'd know what to do with me if I tried" Richard reaches up and brushes a bit of dark hair out of his face before pushing on. "We've been together for years, Bruce. When was the last time I stepped out on you?"

Bruce doesn't miss a beat. "When was the last time Princess Koriand'r was in Gotham?"

As he waves away Bruce's response Richard points out that, "You were with Selina at the time, Bruce. Royalty doesn't count." And Selina is every bit as royal as Koriand'r even if she only rules over part of Gotham's expansive underworld. She definitely counts as royalty and an exception to their relationship on top of that.

Licking his lips, Richard looks Bruce over, gaze lingering at the skin revealed by the unbuttoned shirt where a thin trail of hair thickens on its way to disappearing beneath the waistband of his lover's black slacks.

"Now that you know that I was just teasing, can you  _please_  come to bed?" Richard asks, fingers tapping over the slick silk sheets twisted around his thighs. "Geez, Bruce. You take all the fun out of teasing."


End file.
